The 2014 EU Street Nomenclature Directive was a controversial piece of EU legislation intended to regulate and systematise the naming of streets in European Union member states. It’s primary function was to ensure that all EU streets were given unique names, with duplicate names altered, in order to clean up a system which the EU’s Committee for Transport, Tourism and Pedantry described as “repetitive, incomprehensible and needlessly convoluted” in a 438 page proposal submitted in 1994.

Though the bill was unpopular with the general European public, it was finally ratified in June 2014 amid controversy over aggressive negotiations by Belgian MEP Frédèric Delvaux to secure its passing. It was later revealed that Delvaux was in fact a majority shareholder in a European Law Consultancy firm which would subsequently make over €1.2 billion in providing legal advice to affected parties, during a litigation process which spanned more than 40 ...]]> http://www.dancinghenryalmanac.com/2012/2014-eu-street-nomenclature-directive/feed/ 0 http://www.dancinghenryalmanac.com/2010/anti-protest-protest/ http://www.dancinghenryalmanac.com/2010/anti-protest-protest/#comments Thu, 11 Nov 2010 13:33:35 +0000 dancinghenry http://www.dancinghenryalmanac.com/?p=626

Facetious political stunt concocted by a group of students who grew bored whilst watching an anti-war protest in Westminster in 2004. After scrawling “We Hate Protests” on some makeshift placards they began to march alongside the main demonstration. Incensed by this trivialisation of an important issue, the anti-war activists joined with the students in order to protest their protest and defeat them at their own game. The protest quickly ballooned out of control, blocking traffic and causing such a disturbance that angry commuters left their vehicles to protest it. As the chaos spread it was condemned by MPs, who pronounced it the most shameful and pointless publicity stunt in British history and promptly joined in. It was eventually broken up by police, apparently immune to its infectious irony, and the protesters returned to their homes to continue the fight on blogs and social media. At the time of writing ...]]> http://www.dancinghenryalmanac.com/2010/anti-protest-protest/feed/ 0